GAH I didn't think of perlite thanks for the reminder, and yes I can imagine how annoying that stuff would be in a water feature, I love it in potting mix that isn't submerged though. I mix in old potting mix to our regular soil because we have heavy clay, and in the clay it stays down in there and loosens things up a bit in my mind. :)

As an update: I washed out the whiskey barrel liner today with origional blue dawn and rinsed it forever to remove the soap, wiped with vinegar and rinsed forever again. Filled it up added old aquarium gravel, a fountain pump and the 4 inch pots, (temp until I can find the dirt) Tossed in the water lettuce that I accidentally boiled a bit in the hot temperatures we were having.......

Then I let the dogs out..... I was busy elsewhere in the yard and turn around and one of the dogs hunted and was busy trying to kill the water lettuce while another was standing in the liner drinking..... GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! all the plants were knocked over the pump fell over... I need to find something I can put the silly mini pond thing on because my dogs think its a wading pool. I don't know if I have a ceramic pot big enough. I am pretty sure most of the tables I have won't hold the weight of the water sturdy, but I will have to dig through things I have stored.

I saved the water lettuce and returned it to the old container for now, I hope it doesn't die. One lettuce is 5 dollars by me....

I may just empty everything out of the liner for a few days because it's going to be over 100 the next couple days I guess. The dogs having a pool out there is probably a good idea. Just irritating that they chose the bog lol

Olympia- Is there a way to save your melting plants? I've been scared to try a few kinds of plants because of that.

The Hygro is new, a lot of plants melt when first added to a tank, this ones just been melting more than the others, hopefully it'll be okay though.
And the Aponogeoton is a plant that goes through seasonal periods where it dried up and then comes back to life, it's a toughie so it should regenerate once it's had it's tantrum. ;)Posted via Mobile Device